Fire Doesn’t Stop Balloonist’s Quest

U.S. adventurer Steve Fossett was on course over the south Atlantic Ocean on his quest to become the first to circle the world nonstop in a balloon, despite a fire that singed his eyebrows and left wrist. The fire broke out as the 54-year-old millionaire stockbroker tried to fix a problem with the balloon’s burners. Fossett told mission control in St. Louis that his injuries were not serious, his equipment was working and he intended to continue. Fossett has traveled more than 1,100 miles since taking off from Argentina. “The flight, from the beginning, has been plagued by a minor problem with pilot-light vapor regulators on two of the four balloon burners,” Alan Blount, mission control director, said in a statement.